Mom's bringin' 'em home now, says they're babies. I have no IDEA how to grow or take care of them. Help?
Ok first you need to give us some info. Budget? Space? Once we know this we can build on it from there.
Yea, the more information you give us, the more we can give you. As suggested above, and anything you can think of plus what you hope to get out of it, knowledge, smoke, what?
well I'm hopin' to keep most to smoke. maybe sell a little. my budget's pretty good. I may keep the plants in my attic (10x10ft, maybe) or just in my room. more info when I actually get the plants
You dont even have the plants yet? Good. Dont wait until you get the plants to start understanding what youll need, always get your room setup and tested prior, otherwise your going to run into issues.
well they just got here. they're probably a foot tall each. lookin' pretty good. what should my first step be?
You will be in for a shock once you find out how involved this all is. But we are happy to help as ever. First step. Get a space prepared for growing. You say you have three plants? A few square feet should cut it. You will need about 300 actual watts of CFL to carry out a good grow. These lights can be found at lowes at 42 watts a piece. They also sell splitters so you can run more than one bulb per socket you may want to look into some of those. The alternative here is to look into HID lighting. While you are there get some emergency blankets, ( enough to cover you're room) to reflect light back onto the plants. Get some miracle grow all purpose soluble plant food to. Also get some 5 gallon pots and some FoxFarm organic potting soil ready for a transplant once they need it ( providing they are not already in 5 gallon pots) A thermometer and humidity meter would help.
The best advice anyone can give you is to read everything! I have spent many, many hours reading but it pays off in the end.
All I need is lighting and emergency blankets. I'm also curious; how come weed isn't smokable once they're grown as leaves?
As mels said, get high wattage, high lumen, 6500K CFL's for vegging, and 3000K for flowering. Marijuana does have THC in the leaves, however the optimal concentration is to allow the plant to go its full growth cycle, known as vegetation and flowering to reap the proper benefits. Read up as much as you can, dont want any of these basics to sneak up on you later on. Google, and GC's search can really help. Also, check the bottom of my sticky for text and video help.
As for the lights, Keep them on 24/0 (This means 24 hours of light 0 dark.) Until they are half the size you want. Then change the lights cycle to 12/12 (12 hours on 12 hours off) and the plant will begin to flower. Buds will then start to form and in around 7-10 weeks you will be harvesting hopefully. It is important for you're grow room to be 100% light proof as any interruption of the dark period in flowering can prevent the plant from flowering or a bunch of other bad stuff can happen. Get timers!
Entirely you're choice! Usually around 1-2 feet as sexual maturity should of been reached by then. Also only water when the soil about an inch down is dry then only water enough so its damp and not flooded.